Your team v Manly

HarVeeGee13 said:
I'm assuming Fletch is out and I think Friz is probably going to get suspended. Also not sure if ESL is fit but I'm assuming it's between him and Cody for Friz's spot if he can't play.

1. Kalyn Ponga
2. Dominic Young
3. Dane Gagai
4. Bradman Best
5. Greg Marzhew
6. Dylan Brown
7. Sandon Smith

13. Matthew Croker
12. Jermaine McEwen
11. Dylan Lucas
10. Trey Mooney
9. Phoenix Crossland
8. Jacob Saifiti

14. Tyson Gamble
15. Tyson Frizell*
16. Thomas Cant
17. Pasami Saulo
18. Fletcher Hunt
19. Harrison Graham

20. Cody Hopwood
21. Elijah Salesa-Leaumoana*
Click to expand...
Starting side probably picks itself... I think Graham is out for a few weeks. Arthur was good today and could take that 19 jersey, although I wouldn't carry Gamble and Graham / Arthur (we have a bit of flexibility with Crossland and Smith). I'd have Schiller over Hunt, and ESL over Saulo, with Manuleleua in the final bench spot (he needs a taste of NRL).

14. Gamble (Graham if he is fit)
15. Cant
16 Frizell
17. ESL
18. Schiller
19. Manuleleua

20. Saulo
21. Gamble / Arthur
 
Forwards can’t afford to get rolled up the middle like we did for the end of the first half against the cows. Bench players need to stand up and have the go forward. Loved when we moved the ball in our own half getting brown and ponga plenty of ball. Manly when Paseka and Jurbo went off where flat which is where we have to attack. Sandon has a big job on Hamole. Just keep moving the ball and halves keep running and I don’t see us losing. Would love to see Arthur with the 14 with fletch hunt ready for any injury’s. Really believe hopwood, Manuela and Elijah-salesamolua really knocking down the door on first grade after they’re dominant win against souths today.
 
Be interesting to see where and/or if those that travelled to Vegas and didn’t play then or in Cup on Sunday get named and where, will be hard to drop some of those that played Cup
 
Yeah if it was a must win finals game and he’s not 100%, sure, play him at 14. You’d rather have him for half an hour than not at all.

But for the regular season he should only play when 100%, and he should play 80 wherever the coaching staff think he’s best utilised.
 
The beauty of the Sharpe situation is there is no need to “rush” him back. I’m confident Sandon does a job at six.

I was in the Sandon should be out 7 camp. But after seeing the first 25 of Ponga, Brown, Sharpe combo I want to see more of that.

Smith was the safe option, but I think Sharpe in six could be something very special that no team could defend against.
 
Speaking as the guy who spent the entirety of the off season carrying on about how 'Sharpe shouldn't be in the halves', after a mere 15-20 mins of football against the Cows, I realise that I was categorically and wildly wrong.

Yes, we will look good without Sharpe in the side. We played for 60 mins without him and looked great. But, I rewatched the game (some parts of it like 5 times) on the plane ride home, and fmd, if Sharpe hadnt left the field I honestly am not sure whether the Cowboys even score a try let alone stop us from putting a comfortable 40 plus points on them 😂

Sharpe is out of this world. I pray he can stay fit because with him and KP in the same team, there won't be any team or any game where Victory isnt within arms reach.
 
Les Misérables said:
Speaking as the guy who spent the entirety of the off season carrying on about how 'Sharpe shouldn't be in the halves', after a mere 15-20 mins of football against the Cows, I realise that I was categorically and wildly wrong.

Yes, we will look good without Sharpe in the side. We played for 60 mins without him and looked great. But, I rewatched the game (some parts of it like 5 times) on the plane ride home, and fmd, if Sharpe hadnt left the field I honestly am not sure whether the Cowboys even score a try let alone stop us from putting a comfortable 40 plus points on them 😂

Sharpe is out of this world. I pray he can stay fit because with him and KP in the same team, there won't be any team or any game where Victory isnt within arms reach.
Click to expand...
Respect you for saying that Les! Not that I don't think you had a point or may still prove to be correct. But so many people on the internet dig in on their view and absolutely nothing will change their mind.
 
Les Misérables said:
Speaking as the guy who spent the entirety of the off season carrying on about how 'Sharpe shouldn't be in the halves', after a mere 15-20 mins of football against the Cows, I realise that I was categorically and wildly wrong.

Yes, we will look good without Sharpe in the side. We played for 60 mins without him and looked great. But, I rewatched the game (some parts of it like 5 times) on the plane ride home, and fmd, if Sharpe hadnt left the field I honestly am not sure whether the Cowboys even score a try let alone stop us from putting a comfortable 40 plus points on them 😂

Sharpe is out of this world. I pray he can stay fit because with him and KP in the same team, there won't be any team or any game where Victory isnt within arms reach.
Click to expand...
It was a long 2025 and off season but finally, welcome to the fold friend.
 
I think the game demonstrated you need him in the backline playing 80, if there was ever any debate about that. I personally wasn’t convinced it should be in the halves per se. I still don’t think he looks like he has a great feel for the kind of ball playing expected of a half. But whatever, he’s really good at so many other things, the good will likely outweigh the bad.

I also think getting Sandon into the starting side should be a priority over anyone in the back five besides Bradman or Young. But obviously it’s hard to tell stalwarts like Greg and Dane that they’re wearing jersey 18 so the back-up halfback from the Roosters can be in the team.

BUT, from what I saw, the way Holbrook wants us to play is going to be way more likely to make Sharpe in the halves work than AOB would have. First of all he was actually asking Fletch to bring Kalyn onto the ball in his sweet spots rather than totally eliminating that aspect of Kalyn’s game the way AOB in his infinite wisdom did. Fletch isn’t going to improve at that stuff if he’s not trusted to do it. Secondly if you more confidently play with the full width of the field, forcing the defence to constantly move sideways and hold a full line, rather than allow the D to compress on you as you try to cart it through the middle, that’s going to make Fletch’s running game cutting back on the inside way more dangerous. He’s probably going to continue struggling with hitting his outside men in stride & masking his intentions but yeah maybe the good stuff he brings will just override that as he develops.
 
Last edited:
Also still interpreting Holbrook’s chat about Fletch being a “moveable piece” to mean that if there’s an injury in the back five, Fletch is the player covering that. Eg if Bradman gets hurt, Justin will trust Sharpey there over Schiller or Hunt.

It is a bit odd to be picking your starting centres before your starting halves but I guess Holbrook as a student of the game would have seen how the most successful iteration of our team in the 2020’s so far had, on top of Kalyn in his sweet spots a lot, Bradman & Dane’s quick hands to our barnstorming wingers as an option on both edges. They’re both also exemplary in D. So I get it.

Schiller’s defence there is horrible and Hunt while promising is really really raw. Sharpe would do better on both sides of the ball than both IMO.
 
I know a lot of people say you don't want to upset your spine when theres an injury but Melbourne have done it quite often over the years. I know they are a different sort of beast being the power house they are but the amount of times Munster has had to move to fullback to accomodate injuries is a lot.

I think a lot of our ideas are coming from the model storm play
 
Junior said:
I know a lot of people say you don't want to upset your spine when theres an injury but Melbourne have done it quite often over the years. I know they are a different sort of beast being the power house they are but the amount of times Munster has had to move to fullback to accomodate injuries is a lot.

I think a lot of our ideas are coming from the model storm play
Click to expand...
Haha yeah mate this is when you start getting into "are we getting over-excited?" territory, but I really do feel like there was a lot of modern Bellyache about the decisions Holbrook made during the week and the game.

The thing which is so impressive about the Storm now is that they're not even remotely the same side as the Smith/Cronk/Slater one, which looked to control the game a lot more like how Penrith does. The modern Storm reflect Grant & Hughes particularly who are like diametric opposites of Smith & Cronk, they look to blow you off the park. The play style is built out from the best players (Munster too obviously but I feel like he's a guy who will just blend in to whatever the system is and play his own game within that).

Where AOB blundered I think was that I feel like once he put Fletch in the side at 6, it became "okay how does Kalyn help him get his looks"? I feel like Holbrook has literally done the exact opposite. At no stage in that game did I have any doubt that the #1 thing the team is looking to do in attack is getting Kalyn Ponga into the situations where he's arguably the deadliest player in the game as much as possible. Fletch was given a role within that framework, but also license to just do Fletcher Sharpe things, which he'll do no matter the number on his back.

That's similar to what stands out with Melbourne, when they have to sub in someone like Wishart or Pezet, those guys come in and play their game & play a role. It doesn't negatively impact Grant or Hughes or whoever's fit, because the attack doesn't go away from Grant's triple threat game at dummy half or Hughes' command of his options as its core principles. His best players keep doing what they're best at.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top